The battle to keep the Kings may be over, but the fight over a new sports arena rages with accusations of dirty tricks and “gotcha” tactics, as two groups try to shape the future of downtown Sacramento.

Sacramento Taxpayers Opposed to Pork, or STOP, is gathering at grocery stores and retailers to collect signatures for a public vote on the proposed arena.

“The ballot language is extraordinarily simple. It just says if you're going to use public money to subsidize a sports arena, then the public whose money it is, would get the chance to vote,” said Tab Berg, a political consultant who is working with STOP.

The way in which the group is trying to secure a vote is being questioned by DowntownArena.org, an opposing group. It sent KCRA 3 some video of a petition-gatherer from STOP.

In the short clip, the petition-gatherer said the city will increase taxes because of the arena. However, a tax hike is not part of the city’s current plan.

Joshua Wood, executive director of Region Builders, which is part of DowntownArena.org, said STOP’s signature-gatherers are dishonest.

“We're getting calls every day from people who are getting misinformation,” he said. “The main one we are getting is, ‘Sign this to help build the arena.’ We hear that one over and over again.”

However, Berg said it is clear in the clip that the signature-gatherer paid by STOP was not intentionally misleading people. He accuses arena supporters of “gotcha” tactics.

“The downtown arena crowd, which is largely funding by the people who are going to get paid tax money to work on this project, is certainly trying to create controversies where they can,” Berg said.

DowntownArena.org is asking people who felt they were duped by STOP to nullify their signatures online, by signing a form on the group’s website.

Berg said STOP is well on its way to meeting its goal of 33,000 validated signatures by mid-December, for a vote in the June 2014 ballot.

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